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tv   The Last Word  MSNBC  December 8, 2010 1:00am-2:00am EST

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transition from them, ignoring you to them fighting you, to you winning, what you're doing is moving from irrelevancy, moving from the wilderness into a place where you are in power. when you do that in reverse, you are starting in power and you are ending up irrelevance. that does it for us tonight. this is the public option debate all over again, so says president obama about the criticism he is getting from the left for compromising with republicans on tax rates. he is wrong. this is worse than when he dropped the public option from his health care bill. the left was briefly deflated by that but most liberal obama critics forgot about the public option and championed passage of a much, much weaker health care bill. now they're angrier than ever at
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president obama and still proposing legislative strategies they think can shame republicans into for the first time in history doing the right thing on taxes. the one thing that every one of these critics share is that they have never experienced the awesome responsibility of government. >> i don't get it. >> i don't get it either. >> i don't make judgments based on what the conventional wisdom. i make my judgments based on what i think is right for the country. >> he's in charge. it's his town. >> unexpected, unwavering and unapologetic -- >> i'm not here to play games with the american people. >> after reaching a deal with republicans on the bush tax rates, that he still opposes. >> people making over $1 million. >> the president summons the press for an unscheduled news conference.
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and takes on his critics. >> my job is to do whatever i can to get this economy moving. there's not a single thing i've said that i would do that i have not either done or tried to do. >> the president spoke directly to the disappointed left. >> i know there are some who would have preferred a protracted political fight. i'm sympathetic to that. >> he has completely alienated his liberal base. >> he also came out swinging at fellow democrats. >> a long political fight that carried over into next year might have been good politics but it would be a bad deal for the economy. >> he was extremely fiery. >> and then he took on the republicans. >> i will be happy to see the republicans test whether or not i'm itching for a fight. >> we need to hold the republicans accountable for being complete hypocrites. >> oh, yeah. >> comparing them to violent criminals. >> referring to the american people as hostages. >> it's tempting negotiate with hostage takers. >> and the frustrated liberals,
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the president declared a fierce pragmatism. >> i'm as opposed to the high-end tax cuts today as i have been for four years. i will fight to end them. >> he was rational -- >> i thought what the president said was the best part of his press conference. >> people will have the satisfaction of having a purist position and no victories for the american people. that can't be the measure of what it means to be a democrat. >> good evening from new york. i'm lawrence o'donnell. today president obama defended his tax cut compromise with republicans during a press conference that compared republican lawmakers to hostage takers and his critics on the left to sanctimonious purists who just want to prove how tough they can be. >> this notion that somehow, you know, we are willing to compromise too much reminds me of the debate we had during
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health care. this is the public option debate all over again. so, i pass a signature piece of legislation where we finally get health care for all americans, something that democrats had been fighting for for 100 years, but because there was a provision in there that they didn't get, that would have affected maybe a couple million people, even though we got health insurance for 30 million people, and the potential for lower premiums for 100 million people, that somehow that was a sign of weakness and compromise. now, if that's the standard by which we are measuring success or core principles, then let's face it, we will never get anything done. people will have the satisfaction of having a purist
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position and no victories for the american people. that can't be the measure of what it mean to be a democrat. >> the white house plans to dispatch vice president joe biden to the house democratic caucus tomorrow to try to push back against what house speaker nancy pelosi calls a, quote, certain amount of unease. she said the republican plan failed the tests of job creation and deficit reduction and then offered a defense of president obama's part of the deal. >> the president's part of the proposal, all of it is a stimulus to the economy, creates jobs, it's for the tax cuts for the middle class, 156 million americans are affected by it in a positive way. again, it creates jobs and injects demand into the economy to create growth. >> and that growth will help reduce the deficit. >> joining mow are jane hampshire, adam green, founder of the progressive, ezra klein
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of "the washington post" and roger hodge. adam, you're the returning champion here, having appeared on the show more times than anyone, other than myself. >> look, our only point is, you don't compromise on a fight you can win. you don't compromise without a fight. what we've seen recently is that only 26% of americans support the republican position. a majority of republican voters independent voters and democratic voters support our position. my basic question is this, is there a single republican in congress right now who has felt any political pain or pressure back home in the last month since the election as a result of being on the wrong side of this issue? if the answer is no -- >> can i -- adam, you're in the business of causing pain for politicians. you made life very painful for
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some democrats, including blanche lincoln, helping with the primary challenge. have you and your organization made life painful or difficult for any republican? >> i am proud to report, lawrence, that ours is the only organization right now that has -- adds up taking on olympia snowe in maine, scott brown, john boehner. none of the democratic party institutions do. we are the only one and i hope more join our cause. we also have to hold this president accountable to his promises and ask him to fight before he gives up. >> i want to get something straight, starting with you. strategically on where we stand now, are you an advocate of president stand firm on the original position? and if necessary, allowing the tax rates to expire on december 31st and allowing the clinton tax rates to then resume on january 1st, creating a tax
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increase for every american income tax payer? >> listen, republicans just showed they are willing to kill -- >> no, no, we have to be quick. i -- >> yes. as a negotiation posture -- >> no, not a negotiation posture. i mean will you be willing to do it? some people say that's what you should do. people on this network say we should be negotiating this tax bill in february and march after some taxpayers -- all taxpayers have been forced to pay higher taxes so we can force and shame the republicans into doing the right thing and that that would -- that strategy would actually worth. it's worth it to put people through the pain of making people pay more attacks in january, february and march to get a deal. are one that believes the deal has to be concluded by december 31st or it's okay to negotiate this into the next year? >> this is not a tough question. it's okay to negotiate, absolutely.
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>> jane, just start with that strategic question of should there -- should there be a conclusion to this by december 31st or should democrats be willing to allow the democratic tax rates, the clinton tax rates, to be imposed by law as they are -- they currently would be on january 1st? >> well, this is -- the question presumes this is a cohesive position that the democrats have. unfortunately, because of the way the president did this, there is no cohesive position in the senate. they didn't do -- you know, lawrence, you know what procedure is and how these things are are handled in the senate. you brief the leadership and then you bring in key senators and you tell them what the deal is. and then they -- 10 or 20 of them get together and release a letter saying, we support this when it comes out. they didn't tell anybody anything. they sent them all a sheet with a bunch of bullet points. senators are getting calls saying, what do you think about it? they go, we don't know anything about it. we haven't been briefed. there is no legislation yet. the president calls a press conference and it's the first anybody hears about it. they're on fire up there. joe biden went up today and he got his clock cleaned by the
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senate. there is no unity. nobody can figure out what's going on. >> the plan is very simple. it's out there, very clear. i guarantee you that the chairman of finance committee max baucus was involved in putting it together. the procedural question, there are people advocating the president abandon this agreement and allow the clinton tax rates, increase for every taxpayer in america, go into effect on january 1st. i want to know strategically going forward from here, jane, do you think that is a strategic option for democrats, that they should be willing to do it? >> i as you and adam know was an advocate of negotiating and not allowing them to take hostages. the 2 million people unemployed, they didn't get help in this deal. the president has been going on, as have the republicans, about the need to close the deficit and they decided to go on a
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spending spree together. after having gone on and on for the deficit for so long, you sound incoherent. you have no philosophy. i have to say, i agree with adam, no, veto it. he's the president. john boehner said if that's the only option he had to vote for, attack cuts -- >> you're moving off your position last week where you wrote a piece how they should strike a best deal now with republicans and now you're now willing to veto this and let taxes increase on january 1st? >> the centrist democrats on the hill wanted the chuck schumer $1 million deal. president obama moved in and negotiated a deal worse than conservative wanted. he went straight to republicans and said, let me give you everything you want. >> the deal is the senate voted on the schumer before the president made his deal. they failed to pass it. they got 53 votes.
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they needed 60. they voted against this -- >> so you think they're going to voted for this and not that? >> this is going to pass, absolutely, because it's going to have republican votes and going to have most democratic votes, absolutely. very few democratic votes against this. roger, i just want to get on you this strategically quickly. do you think the president should -- should hold fast and allow tax rates to increase on january 1st? the reason i'm asking this is that the reason the president reached this agreement now is because he will not, and he made this very clear today, one of his principles is, he will not allow a tax increase on every income taxpayer on january 1st. he won't allow it. that's one of his strategic principles in doing this. do you think that's a mistake? >> i think you're dignifying this position with the word principle. i don't believe barack obama has any principles at all. and i think that this particular controversy is a demonstration of the fact he has no
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principles. of course he should fight. of course he should be willing to do what is necessary -- >> should he be willing to let the rates increase on january 1st? >> of course he should. >> thank you for the quick answer. ezra klein, should he allow the rates to increase on january 1st? >> given the deal on the table, no. >> thank you, that's an economical answer. as the only one here who has written tax law, if you ever want to sit down and try to write a tax law retroactively, which is what you would have to do, if you allow this thing to -- the clinton rates to be restored on january 1st and you make some sort of deal or pass some sort of bill in february or march, then you'll have to do a retroactive decrease of the rates going back to january 1st. that is virtually unwritable and not administratable and president obama was not, as he said, not willing to risk all the taxpayers below the top tax
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bracket suffering that problem. all right, we're going to be going on with this. this is a special extended discussion of this controversy tonight. i am holding to the position, as i think you can now tell very clearly, i believe the president got the very best deal he could possibly get under these circumstances. and there was no other option, especially in january when republicans take over the house of representatives and take over complete technical control of tax-writing legislation. everybody, please stand by. we'll continue our conversation. the progressive community disagreeing about the obama deal after a short break. thanks.
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president obama is facing vocal opposition to his tax rates, compromise from his own party in the house. we'll talk with congressman peter welsh of vermont who is leading the charge against the bipartisan deal. we're going on a safari. so we're on the serengeti, and seth finds a really big bone. we're talking huge. they dig it up, put it in the natural history museum and we get to name it. sethasauraus. really. your points from chase sapphire preferred are worth 25% more on travel? means better vacations. that's incredible. believe it...with chase sapphire preferred your points are worth 25% more on travel
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in order to get stuff done, we're going to compromise. in is why fdr, when he started social security, it only affected widows and orphans. you did not qualify. and yet now it is something that really helps a lot of people. when medicare was started, it was a small program. it grew. under the criteria that you just set out, each of those were betrayals of some abstract ideal. this country was founded on compromise. i couldn't go through the front door at this country's founding, and if we were really thinking about ideal positions, we wouldn't have a union. >> joining me again are jane hampshire, adam green, founder of the progressive change campaign committee, ezra klein of "the washington post" and roger hodge, author perform
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roger, what do you think was wrong with the president making this deal at this time, given that the republicans, let's just everybody remember, let's set the table for january, the republicans take over the house of representatives. they don't just become a stronger minority, they control it. they control the ways and means committee. a republican chairman of the committee controls the writing of this bill. they control the agenda. how would you expect to get something better in the next congress with republicans controlling the house of representatives? >> let me just say, i appreciate the practical wisdom you bring to this situation, but it's also true, and we have to remember that this situation, this predicament, is of obama's own making, as of the democrats' own making. obama has signaled from the very beginning that he was willing to surrender and, so, surrendering again is -- advances no one's interests here except the interests of the top 2%, the super rich.
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as sherrod brown has been saying, what we need to see this president do, what president obama needs to do is go on the road and make the case for his punitively preferred policy to the american people and shame the republicans into doing the right thing. they're not going to do it out of the goodness of their own hearts. all he's doing here is -- >> can you stop for a second. can you cite me a democratic president who has shamed republicans into voting for a tax increase of any bracket? >> look, herbert hoover, barack "hoover" obama -- >> you're suggesting a strategy has that has never worked before, has never -- >> woodrow wilson forced congress to take on policies they didn't want to take on. you know -- >> can i help answer that question? >> please. >> go ahead, adam. >> there's a reason he was called give them hell harry.
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i was on the trip when president bush barn stormed tim johnson -- >> a democrat, a democrat! >> why is it essentially different for a democrat rather than a republican? the -- >> you don't know that yet? you're been in the two-party system and you don't know the difference between a democrat and republican? >> certainly we know -- >> there's nothing clearer -- >> yes, the democrats always surrender. that's the difference. >> lawrence -- >> adam, finish your point about johnson. it's a good point. >> tim johnson, it's the same thing, tim johnson did what president bush wanted. when president obama wanted dennis kucinich to vote for his health care plan, went to his state, rallied his constituents and kucinich caved. the fact are you disputing the idea of a presidential bully pulpit is shocking to me. i don't understand it.
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>> no, i'm saying we can't find an example of a moderate president forcing a republican to vote for a tax bracket increase through some sort of shame of doing the responsible thing. we have a simple record. democrats are responsible about taxation. republicans are not. republicans think they succeed by not being responsible for taxation politically. roger, do you know what the bottom tax bracket is, the actual percentage, the one no one talks about? >> i'm sorry. i don't. the question. >> the bottom tax bracket, do you know what it is, what percent it is? >> no. >> it's 10%. that's the george bush bottom tax bracket. you know what happens in january if you don't do something about it? it goes up to 15%, which was the bottom tax bracket under bill clinton. >> no one wants to see that happen. >> no one wants -- people are advocating that it happen. >> no one -- >> you're saying let it happen. >> with all due respect -- >> one person here wants that to happen. there's only one person saying it shouldn't happen and that's
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ezra klein. why shouldn't the democrats be willing to stunt this all the way through to january, february and march and fight over this, allow the tax rates to go up to the clinton level on january 1st? why did you say they shouldn't do that, that they should take a deal before december 31st? >> i'm not going to spend five seconds defending the administration's strategy or communications here. both have been horrible. we're not having a discussion yet in this segment about what this deal looks like. we just struck a deal basically this morning. we should say what's in it. when we talk about the deal obama wanted to have about a month ago, and the deal he's got today, you're talking about two different type of gets and you have to decide what is better. the original deal some say we should move back to he gets an expiration of the bush tax cuts for upper income earners. over the next two years those are worth $133 billion. the deal he has right now keeps those, that's $133 billion but adds on to them about $300 billion in other type of much
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more progressive and frankly, much more stimulative tax cuts and credits, including $56 billion of unemployment insurance, including $120 billion of a payroll tax cut in 2011. the question have you to ask are not abstract questions of strategy or -- or i do agree with the credit teak that he's not shown much fight for the progressive side. the question is, what do you think is a better policy? more to the point, do you think the ideal tax policy should be dominating or given the state of the economy the ideal stimulus policy? the reason i say they shouldn't back down is i believe they get a better stimulus policy than one would have expected. i don't know they can get that again. i think they could get the under $250,000 tax cuts but i don't think that is where we should be focusing given the state of the economy. i'm more worried about stimulus than i am about tax rates. >> we did discuss the elements of the deal last night on this show. the reason i've been concentrating on the reaction
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and on the strategy from this point forward is the -- basically the kind of criticism that has broken out today about this deal, and actually last night, there was some welcomed surprise on the part of some progressive analysts on this program and elsewhere about how good the deal was given how bad it could be under certain circumstances. what i'm not discussing, what we don't have the time to discuss is the ideal. in my ideal we would have much higher -- several higher top tax brackets than $250,000. i would have a bracket at $1 million, $10 million, $100 million. it's crazy we don't have broadcasts going up to these astronomical incomes. this is not what the president gets to think about. he has to think about, where do we get 60 votes in the senate we get 60 votes in the senate in
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order to go forward. jane, as an aadvocate of a deal in the past, given everything ezra has said about what's actually contained in this deal, which includes, by the way, an expansion of the earned income tax credit which is an anti-poverty program built into the tax code republicans have never been in favor of, do you agree with ezra's analysis of the net value of what's in front of us compared to what we might see coming out of a republican house of representatives next year. >> i think the poor are being used as a shield. i think there's no way you can argue with a straight face that having an estate tax that is even better for rich people than anything george bush ever this is in any way -- >> that's not true. the estate tax today is zero. it is zero. there is a zero estate tax. the estate tax on january 1st, on the obama deal, will be 35% on estates of $5 million and above. so, we have a zero estate tax. let's not let anyone pretend the estate tax next year is going to be lower than what george bush
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managed to achieve for this year. you don't get lower than zero. >> i'm sorry, lawrence, this is not stimulative. there is no way -- it was suggested by blanche lincoln. keith olbermann was blistering in his attack on this. nobody wanted this. it just suddenly showed up on the table. where the heck did that come from? this is -- >> i can answer that question. >> ezra, go ahead. >> it was the deal, the s-state tax deal. jane is right. it is one the worst policies you could imagine but it was a deal for the tax extenders. what the republicans said was if you don't do the lincoln s-deal which costs $10 billion against '09 which was a 35% rate and the $3.5 million exemption no way we're doing a two-year extension on earned income tax and on the child tax credit. those add up to $40 billion and for the poor. i do take jane's point here. but i would say there's a tension here between where what you think is more important is saying the rich are not going to
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get more. i agree, we shouldn't be giving the rich more, or the poor are going to get more, we'll give them more help. the help for the poor outweighs the help for the rich. the help for the rich is a waste of money and deeply unfair. >> it pains me to say that has to be the last word on this double segment. you'll all be coming back on this show and we'll be talking about this for a while. jane hamsher, adam green, roger hodge and ezra klein, thank you for joining me tonight. congressman peter welsh says the obama compromise is grossly unfair and he's leading the charge in the house to try to stop the rich from keeping the same bush tax rates. he'll join me. and senator mary landrieu has added her voice calling it morally corrupt. she earns tonight's rewrite.
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still ahead tonight, president obama's uphill battle to convince democrats in the house to support his compromise tax deal with republicans. congressman peter welsh says the president gave up the fight way too soon. he'll join me next. ergirl. light as air lipwear that does what a lipstick can't. the precision pen glides over lips with a flush of sheer color.
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the house where some democrats are expressing shock that the president had to compromise at all to get a bill that could command 60 votes in the senate. nancy pelosi told reporters today, the response has not been very good so far and there's a certain amount of unease, calling this extension of the bush tax rates fiscally irresponsible. vermont's congressman peter welsh will deliver a letter to speaker pelosi that reads, in part, we support extending tax cuts in full to 98% of american taxpayers as the president initially proposed. he should not back down. nor should we. so far the letter has been signed by over 30 democratic members of congress. joining me now, congressman peter welsh. congressman welsh, 30 signatures on something this urgent is not exactly an overwhelming count. you're at less than 10% of the house of representatives. what do you expect to happen from your effort?
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>> well, the big issue here is the wisdom of this decision that the president's made. especially he is dealing with a very intractable senate. 53 votes for his position but you need 60. what he's done is reached an agreement where he's given the republicans the tax cuts they want, the estate tax, and then the tax cuts for the very wealthy. and they've given him the tax cuts he wants that would help some of the folks that the president is fighting for. but at the end of the day, its $900 billion added to the deficit. that's a real problem. people are not supporting adding onto the deficit. keep in mind -- >> but, congressman, what would your strategy be, then, from this point guard? i've been reading your letter, studying, and you're not actually saying any specific thing in terms of procedure that should happen next. what do you want the president to do now? >> well, i'm going to vote against this package. >> you will vote against it. >> i will. now, here's the -- here's the
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dilemma. i mean, the president made his deal. from my perspective he made a deal that casts aside a central part of his campaign, we have to cast aside the bush tax cuts but he did it in the-in-inning. >> what is the ninth inning? is it new year's eve where you take it to the limit? >> the ninth -- you know, i absolutely would. i mean, you know the senate -- >> let me get something straight. would you allow the clinton tax rates to take effect on january 1st and have taxes go up for every taxpayer in vermont in order to continue the jousting with republicans over this issue, or do you believe that december 31st really is the drop-dead date, new year's eve, it has to be done by that time? >> that's the drop dead date. i strongly support continuing those lower rates for the middle class up to $250,000. >> your letter is not saying to the president what some other people are saying, which is you
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should be willing to continue this struggle into the next tax year, into 2011? you're saying, whatever the outcome, it must be decided before january 1st? >> well, it has to be decided. but the problem is, we boxed ourselves in. i mean, you know, there's two thing. there's risk in what the president has done. there's risk in fighting to the ninth inning, but the fact is, the risk we have now is that we're putting ourselves in a fiscal straitjacket. these republicans are quite happy with crashing through deficit records. the same republicans who are promoting this will vote against raising the debt ceiling to allow us to pay for this. they'll appeal any spending programs the president might have to extend broad band to rural communities to maintain health care program to keep kid going to college. they'll oppose that saying we can't afford it. the second thing is, it's a political trap, in my view. the same trap republicans have been laying throughout the bush administration.
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two tax cuts, the iraq war, afghan war, on the credit card. the prescription price program, on the credit card. now the stimulus program, $900 billion, on the credit card. the american people are coming to the conclusion at the end of the day, they know the bondholders will win and middle class will lose. this will be paid for by our kids and grandkids and there's not a new bridge, not a new mile or broad band. that's where the skepticism is. i had a radio show and i had folks who were farmers for 35 years, incredible tough times, a woman on social security. they said, look, if we can give something up and we know it will help us meet our obligation, shared sacrifice, we're willing to do it. they do not want everything to be on the debt, on the credit card. >> congressman welch, you bring that clear common sense to them.
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everything you've said is absolutely unimpeachable. you know what it is now to live with that burden that democrats have in the congress. they have the burden of being responsible about taxation and republicans have a doctrineaire tax cut, it's religion to them if congress. you're stuck up again that all the time. i commend you strategically for recognizing there is a drop dead point, there is new year's eve. what would you say to any colleagues of yours who would be willing to allow tax rates to increase on all tax payers, the one that concern me the most is the bottom tax rate, which is now 10%. if we revert to clinton law it would go up to 15%. that's a 50% increase in income taxation for the poorest
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taxpayers in the virginia and in the country. what would you say to those willing to see that happen on january 1st? >> i disagree with that. you know, you've got to aspire for the best. but you've got to make progress. and we have to understand that. but we're not entitled to ask our supporters to understand why we had to make a compromise if we haven't demonstrated we have fought until the last dog has died. this is the seventh inning. if a nine-inning game you don't walk off the field this soon. >> congressman peter welsh thank you for your clear-eyed vermont view of this. >> thank you. coming up, the sat democratic senator who denied the $100 million her state got in the health care bill was needed for her vote -- for her to vote yes. actually, called the tax cut compromise corrupt. senator mary landrieu gets the
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they also absorb co2. we're hoping to supplement the fuels that we use in our vehicles, and to do this at a large enough scale to someday help meet the world's energy demands. those on the left who felt the president should have fought harder on the bush tax rates found a hero today where they've never found one before. in a louisiana senate seat.
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centrist democrat mary landrieu attacked the tax compromise calling it the obama/mcconnell plan. i'm going to argue forcefully for the nonsensicalness and the almost, you know, moral corruptness of that particular policy. this is beyond politics. this is about justice and doing what's right. why the president didn't think there were 40 or 50 or 60 of us to defend him on this principle, i don't know, but he basically didn't think any of us cared much about it. well, i want him to know i do care. >> there is so much nonsensicalness in what the good senator just said that it is hard to know where to begin. let's consider why she said it. president obama is beyond unpopular in the south. he is hated. louisiana is no exception. mary landrieu is obviously very
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conscience of doing everything she can possibly do to distance herself from president obama. this nonsensical statement of hers helps her do that. the phoney stunt she pulled blocking the senate confirmation of john lew also helped her distance herself from president obama. she was trying to force the president to end the moratorium on deep water oil drilling following the bp oil disaster. i don't remember anyone on the left cheering mary landrieu in her fight to open up the gulf of mexico to even more oil drilling. now to the most nonsensical line in her statement. why the president didn't think there were 40 or 50 or 60 of us
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to defend him on this principle, i don't know. well, i know. the president knew there were 40 votes. he knew there were 50 votes. and most importantly, he knew there were not 60 votes. 60 being the number needed to win in the senate. and mary landrieu knew there weren't 60. and the senate on saturday proved there weren't 60 when they lost five democrats for the vote on the obama tax bill. president obama did what he could to round up votes for the tax bill. mary landrieu did not. she didn't try to convince a single colleague to vote for the obama tax bill. e president has some power of persuasion in the senate. and senators have even more. often much more. the way bill clinton got his tax
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bill passed in the senate was more a result of senators persuading senators to vote for it than the president persuading senators, specifically daniel patrick moynahan single handed rounded up the last votes to get the bill out of committee and secured the final decisive vote on the senate floor. senator landrieu has never done anything like that. the simple truth is, president obama said everything he could say, did everything he could do to get senators to vote for his tax plan. he got 53 of them, 53, to vote his way. which is three more than bill clinton got to vote for his tax plan. but it was not enough under the current rules of the senate that requires 60 votes to proceed on a bill like this one. so, the president made the best deal he could at the right time,
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with absolutely no help from senator landrieu. and that top tax bracket of 35% that mary landrieu now thinks defines in her awkward phrasing, moral corruptness. president bush started that tax rate when he cut the top bracket from 39.5% to 35%, but that did not inspire mary landrieu to coin the phrase moral corruptness because she was one of the few democrats in the senate, including her colleague from louisiana, who voted for the bush tax cuts that set the treasury on the road to ruin. [ male announcer ] you know her. we know diamonds. together we'll make her holiday.
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at 10:15 this morning at her home in chapel hill, north
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carolina, elizabeth edwards surrendered to cancer. her family was at her side. she was only 61 years old. president obama spoke with both john edwards and the edwards' daughter kate. he released a statement saying, in her life, elizabeth edwards knew tragedy and pain. many others would have turned inward. many others in the face of such adversity would have given up, but through all that she endured, elizabeth revealed a kind of fortitude and grace that will long remain a source of inspiration. our thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends. a final message to her friends and supporters was posted on her facebook page yesterday. >> the days of our lives for all of us are numbered. we know that. and, yes, there are certainly times when we aren't able to muster as much strength and patience as we would like. it's called being human. but i have found that in the simple act of living with hope and in the daily effort to have
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a positive impact in the world, the days i do have are made all the more meaningful and precious. and for that i am grateful. one of elizabeth edwards' dear friend joins me now. karen, john edwards being present in the final days. i assume that was elizabeth edwards' choice? >> yes. i think that's a real testament to her character. she understood, particularly having gone through the loss of wade and understanding the impact that that had on kate and on john edwards, knowing she has two young children and kate also, they need their father there at a time like this. so, i think that's a real testament to her that, you know, in -- just down to the last moment, she was taking care of everybody and making sure they were going to be okay. you know, that was part of what made her such a remarkable
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person. you know, i worked for her but half the time she was, you know, checking up on, are you okay? in the campaign world, that's the -- a candidate never says that to you so that's what made her such a special human being. >> in what became her final moments, her definition of family still included john edwards, co-parents of these children and presumably she was thinking about their lives going forward now with only one parent. >> absolutely. her brother and sister were also there. you know, family has always been so important to elizabeth, and the idea of family. part of what i think she did was sort of create families wherever she went. the president's statements struck me because i think one of the things elizabeth would want people to know is that from her perspective, she won. you know, people like to think, you lose a battle or suck couple, but this is a woman that figured out how to pull her life together after the loss of wade. you would think that would be the worst thing that could ever
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happen. then she found out she had cancer. you know, i was there when she was diagnosed. it was all about, okay, let's move forward. taking care of the kids and making sure they understood what was happening. right down to the end it was about taking care of people, living a great life and just being incredibly grateful for her life. >> she suffered tragedies unimaginable to most of us. the loss of a child, indescribably unimaginable. a public strangeness in her marriage publicly came apart and the reasons for it coming apart with her husband straying and having a child outside of wedlock. these are things you can't prepare yourself for. you find out who you are in those moments. >> absolutely do you. one thing that maze elizabeth unique is she understood how to draw strength from friend and family and draw strength from, you know, even strangers that she might meet. certainly, you know, she was a